Your Wheel and Tire Set Up

I'm just curious what the 29r riders are running for wheels and tires including pressures and what your overall impression of the equipment that you're running is.

I'll start - I have a set of carbon roval sl's with a maxxis ikon 2.35 in front and a 2.2 nobby nic on back on a long travel FS 29er. I don't pay too much attention to get pressures exact but I run around 23-26.

The tire selection I'm really psyched with. For a front tire, the 2.35 ikon (exo) is Grippy enough for trail riding and fast and light enough for racing. In the fall with the needles and leaves falling on the trails I could see wanting a little more knobbery for trail riding but won't change the tire since I plan on doing some more marathon races before the winter happens.

On the rear, the nobby nic is a snakeskin model and replaced a racing ralph. The rara was really fast but it lasted around 600-700 miles and I happen to have a nobby nic lying around. I didn't realize how much I missed having a tire that hooks up on the terrain and I recently did a 50 miler on it on a course that was pretty rocky and rooty and I think I may have been faster overall as a result of having a more confident rear tire. It's naturally much more fun on there as a trail tire than the racing ralph was.

The Carbon Roval SL wheels are insanely light (sub 1500g) and incredibly fast. They are not as stiff as the stock wheels that came with the bike (WTB i23's on DT Swiss 350 hubs) and I planned to only use these wheels for racing, but they are so light and easy to get in the air that I use them for all my riding. On really chunky riding though I would prefer a stiffer wheel but at $800-900 less than Enve's or I9's I'm very impressed with them.

I have no complaints about durability of any of the equipment. The Ikon is sitting around 600 miles and it looks like it has at least another 600 miles to go before it might start to loose its' bite. The Nobby Nic only has about 150 miles on it but it seems to be doing fine other than looking a little chewed up.

The wheels have been great and I think my pressure around 23-26 (25 for nastier rides dry rides and 22/23 when smooth or wet and the rear typically a pound or two higher than the front) is low enough to deform around the terrain but high enough to avoid the terrain striking the rim. The rims do show some nasty marks along the sides (where rim brakes would grab if they were rim brakes) where it looks like the tire was pushed to the side and a rock grinded along the rim, but the integrity has stayed just fine. I have about 700 miles on the wheels, I haven't trued them yet, they don't really need it, but being a bit nit picky I may throw them on the truing stand here in the next few weeks as they are slightly out of true.
I'm running this setup as a cat 2 xc racer and also for training and overall trail riding fun. I try to be a smooth rider attempting to choose the line that requires the least amount of suspension but I don't mind launching a few feet in the air off of a jump or drop and using all of my travel there.

Anyway, I'm just curious how everyone is feeling about their current set ups. I work in a shop and have some influence on the tires and wheels that we carry and I like grabbing information from the riders every once in a while. Thanks for contributing!

Your Wheel and Tire Set Up

I'll play!

Running Industry 9 Torch Trail alloy wheels with a 2.35 Hans Dampf at 21 PSI up front, with a 2.25 Nobby Nic at 24 PSI out back. This is all on a new alloy RIP 9. I had the same tire setup on some Arch EX/Hadley wheels on a 2012 RIP 9. So it's hard to tell how much of the big difference in stiffness is from the frame, from the wheels, or both. I couldn't be happier with the wheels - 6 months in, spoke tension hasn't changed, and I haven't had any of the spring/bearing issues others have had. They feel great.

As for the tires, I love what my HD gives me up front, but I'm getting tired of how fast the Nobby Nics wear down. Some of my fav local rides include a couple of short asphalt climbs, followed by rocky, technical trail. This wreaks havoc on any rear tire, but the wear rate quickly kills any advantage the Schwalbes have in traction out of the box. Really curious about the Chunky Monkey. Might be buying a pair soon.

front wheel is a home built light bicycle wide rim with an american classic 20mm 130 hub (130g) and sapim double butted spokes. Rear is a chris king 142x12 hub on a LB wide rim. Im running a hans dampf up front and a specialized ground control (2.1) in the rear.

One group of guys I ride with (much better than me) ride very technical terrain on tires that have almost no tread (slant 6, bontrager xr4, ignitor etc). When I have tried to use those tires I dab a lot. However, most of the riders around here like knobbier tires (nobby nic is popular).

As I improve Im hoping to work my way down to lighter/faster tires. Im about to switch the front from the hans dampf to a nobby nic 2.35 and the ground control to an ikon 2.1. Ill shed about 1/2 to 3/4 lb with the lighter tires.

Someday Id hope to be good enough to run an ikon up front.

I weigh 165 and run around 20psi front/back. Im not that careful with pressure, but tend to run a bit more in the back.

Sorry never put my overall opinion on the set up. The rims are lite enough and still strong and have only had to have trued up once in 10 years but I do keep an eye on the spokes in between rides and tighten as needed. And the tires are the best I have had for the conditions I ride. I'm on the east coast and ride mostly a mix of hard pack sand gravel and rooty and muddy at times trails

I run higher pressure than most people as tend to like fast rolling tires and don't like to protect the wheels. Bent the rear wheel I think during a crash over a fast rocky section of trail. Overall I like the setup except the RaRa's are wearing quickly, I have about 300 miles on them and I'd say they are about 50% worn. Wheels are really light (1450g) but have not proven to be as strong as I would like. Ordered a new rim and will rebuild the rear soon.

I run higher pressure than most people as tend to like fast rolling tires and don't like to protect the wheels. Bent the rear wheel I think during a crash over a fast rocky section of trail. Overall I like the setup except the RaRa's are wearing quickly, I have about 300 miles on them and I'd say they are about 50% worn. Wheels are really light (1450g) but have not proven to be as strong as I would like. Ordered a new rim and will rebuild the rear soon.

Re: Your Wheel and Tire Set Up

Home built p35s with shimano xt front hub and diatech rear. Running an Ardent 2.4 at 25psi in the rear and a knard 29x3 up front at 18-20psi. Excellent handling on semi- technical single track. Quicker than I would have imagined big tires to be.

Hope hubs with stans hoops, ZTR Arch EX. Staight gauge spokes with brass nips. Front tire Maxxis Ardent, rear maxxis cross mark. Tire pressure I have no idea, I squeeze the tire it feels right or wrong I add or remove air. I havent used a gauge in 23 years of riding. I don't need no stinking gauges!

I think I have giant tracker rims with tube Kenda small block 8. I'm pretty sure it's the fastest tire ever on hard, dry trails, but it sucks at just about everything else. I'm looking for a good all around tire to go tubeless with. Any thoughts?

Your Wheel and Tire Set Up

Still running the stock Bontrager AT-850 rims and hubs that came on my 2013 Trek Mamba. Not a huge fan of the stock Bonty 29-2 tires so recently put a 2.25 Panaracer Cedric Gracia on the front, and a 2.1 Maxxis Aspen in the rear. Running tubes at about 28-30 psi. Aspen is meh, but the CG feels like a great combo of grip and speed so far.

On my GT Sensor 9r, I put the Bonty 29-2 on the rear, but went with a 2.35 Geax Gato on the front. Burly sidewall, and heavy but I've had flat issues before and don't mind sacrificing weight for durability. Doesn't roll as well as the Cedric Gracia, but has really nice grip.

Got a few wheelsets and dozens of tires but will only list a few setups...

This is for my main ride, a TBLTc for all purpose trail riding.

Tires: Sepceialized Purgatory fornt and sometimes rear. Rear interchanges with a 2.3 Ground Control. Tubless of course. Spec makes some nice tubless tires for the price. Also for more control I use a Nevegal, tubless, up front.

Pressures: Around 30psi. A bit less up front. I love the feel of lower psi but have cut too many tires with rim hits out back on rockier trails. Rear tires also get squirmy with hard cornering if I go any lower.

Rims: The wider the better. Flows are being replaced with Flow EXs, which are now being replaces with carbon. Initially tried the Light Bicycle rims and cracked a rear too easily. The latest trial is a Derby rim I'm building up now. Nice and wide!

DT Swiss Comp butted spokes always on brass nips.

King hubs, a few pair, that have been through several wheel builds. A few different front hubs besides the Kings.

Hope hubs with stans hoops, ZTR Arch EX. Staight gauge spokes with brass nips. Front tire Maxxis Ardent, rear maxxis cross mark. Tire pressure I have no idea, I squeeze the tire it feels right or wrong I add or remove air. I havent used a gauge in 23 years of riding. I don't need no stinking gauges!

Can I ask why you choose this combo? I purchased my Niner used and it has ZTR Flows with the same tires. I've often wondered why the guy choose this tire combination. It seems to work well for me (along with the 1X10 drivetrain) But since I am a newbie I have never figured out why he choose those tires (or the 1x10 setup). So I am curious at why you picked this setup.